St. Stanislaus Church has submitted a petition with dozens of signatures requesting that the City not leave the temporary direction change on Chestnut Street intact.
“This change has been detrimental to the day-to-day business operations of the Parish rectory, prohibits our elderly parishioners from entering and exiting their vehicles in a safe manner, prevents the safe loading and unloading of supplies to both the rectory and the church, disrupts the motor vehicle processional for funerals, impedes workers coming make repairs and service calls to the Church and rectory and causes an increase of noise during our solemn services due to the excessive congestion of traffic,” read the letter accompanying the petition, which was presented to the City Council and Traffic Commission.
Chestnut Street has long had an odd configuration at Fourth Street, with no one able to turn in either direction coming off the Mystic/Tobin Bridge exit. Both sides empty onto Fourth Street. However, during construction on the Beacon Street off-ramp, Chestnut was made one way all the way from City Hall to Everett Avenue – one long stretch.
It became popular with many drivers, but especially the Police and Fire Departments. Fire officials said they felt it helped response times from Central Fire in getting to Everett Avenue.
A petition to make the temporary change into a permanent change is now before the Traffic Commission and City Council.
Count St. Stan’s against it.
“It is jeopardizing the existence of our self-supporting Parish, which has been in existence for the past 110 years,” read the letter. “Chestnut Street is a narrow, one lane road, in a heavily populated residential neighborhood. It is unable to maintain the increased flow of traffic caused by vehicles coming from the Fourth Street off-ramp to the Bridge.”